And when He, glorified and exalted is He, responded to him, He caused to result from his supplication His saying, returning to the manifestation of greatness, informing of the increased anger that always necessitates being overwhelmed by anger: "So We opened" meaning it resulted from his supplication [that We opened] an opening that befits Our greatness, "the gates of the heaven" all of them in all regions. He expressed the plural of the few to indicate the multitude because it is customary for the Arabs to borrow it for that, and it is more eloquent and famous than saying 'gates.' The context of greatness rejects it being for anything else. And when the intended purpose was to emphasize the matter of the water by mentioning its state that it was in until it was as if the one being informed of it had witnessed it, it was made as if it were a sign by which the heaven was opened, and he said: "with water pouring down" meaning pouring with the utmost of what can be from flow and abundance, and for this reason he did not say: 'with rain,' because it is outside that custom. And that continued for forty days.